The horizontal line represents the person’s life.1696 - born1743 - died

Hervey, John, LordHerveyOfIckworth

, a political and poetical writer of considerable fame, was the
eldest son of John first earl of Bristol, by his second wife,
Elizabeth, sole daughter and heir to sir Thomas Felton of
Playford in the county of Suffolk, bart. He was born Oct.
15, 1696, and educated at Clare-hall, Cambridge, where
he took his master’s degree in 1715, previously to which,
on Nov. 7, 1714, he had been made gentleman of the
bed-chamber to the Prince of Wales. He came into parliament soon after the accession of GeorgeI. and was appointed vice-chamberlain to the king in 1730, and a privy
counsellor. In 1733 he was called up by writ to the house
of peers, as lord Hervey of Ickworth; and in 1740 was
constituted lord privy seal, from which post he was removed
in 1742. He died Aug. 5, 1743, in the forty-seventh year
of his age, a short period, but to which his life had been
protracted with the greatest care and difficulty. Having
early in life felt some attacks of the epilepsy, he entered
upon and persisted in a very strict regimen, which stopped
the progress of that dreadful disease, but prevented his
acquiring, or at least long enjoying, the blessing of sound
health. It is to this rigid abstemiousness that Pope malignantly alludes in the character he has given of lord Hervey,
under the name of Sporus, in the line “the mere white
curd of asses milk.” But lord Hervey affords a memorable
instance of the caution with which we ou^ht to read the
characters drawn by Pope and his associates; nor can too
much praise be given to his late editors for the pains they
have taken to rescue some of them from the imputations
which proceeded from the irritable temper and malignity
of that admired satirist. In the character of Sporus, Dr.
Warton has justly observed, that language cannot afford
more glowing or more forcible terms to express the utmost
bitterness of contempt. Pope and his lordship were once
| friends; but they quarrelled at a time when the poetical
world seemed to be up in arms, and perpetually contending
in a manner disgraceful to their characters. In the quarrel
between Pope and lord Hervey, it appears that Pope was
the aggressor, and that lord Hervey wrote some severe lines
in reply, and An Epistle from a Nobleman to a Doctor of
Divinity.“1733. (Dr. Sherwin). In answer to this, Pope
wrote the” Letter to a Noble Lord, on occasion of some
libels written and propagated at court in the year 1732-3,“which is printed in his Works, and, as Warburton says,” is
conducive to what he had most at heart, his moral character,“to which, after all, it conduced very little, as he
Violated every rule of truth and decency in his subsequent
attack on lord Hervey in the” Prologue to the Satires,“under the character of Sporus, whic,h, we agree with
Mr. Coxe,” cannot be read without disgust and horror
disgust at the indelicacy of the allusions, and horror at
the malignity of the poet, in laying the foundation of his
abuse on the lowest species of satire, personal invective;
and what is still worse, on sickness and debility."

The man, however, whom Pope thus affected to despise,
possessed very considerable talents both as a statesman and
a man of literature. Dr. Middleton, in his dedication to
the “Life of Tuily,” has praised his good sense, consummate politeness, real patriotism, his knowledge and defence of the laws of his country, his accurate skill in
history, and his unexampled and unremitted diligence in
literary pursuits. To Middleton’s work he contributed the
translations of the passages from Cicero. Lord Hervey
also wrote some of the best political pamphlets in defence
of Sir Robert Walpole’s administration, of which lord
Orford has given a long list. One attributed to him was
entitled, “Sedition and Defamation displayed,‘ 7 and contained a severe invective against Pulteney and Bolingbroke.
In answer to this, Pulteney wrote” A proper reply to a
late scurrilous libel, &c.“and treated lord Hervey with
such contempt, that the latter challenged him: a duel
ensued, and Pulteney slightly wounded his antagonist.
It afterwards appeared that lord Hervey did not compose
this pamphlet, and Pulteney acknowledged his mistake.
It was written by Sir William Yonge, secretary at war, a
circumstance of which lord Orford appears to have bea
ignorant.
| Though sometimes too florid and pompous, lord Hervey
was a frequent and able speaker in parliament, and possessed more than ordinary abilities, and much classical
erudition. He was remarkable for his wit, and the number
and appositeness of his repartees. Although his manner
and figure were, at first acquaintance, highly forbidding,
yet he seldom failed to render himself, by his lively conversation, an entertaining companion to those whom he
wished to conciliate. Hence he conquered the extreme
prejudice which the king had conceived against him; and
from being detested, became a great favourite. He was
particularly agreeable to queen Caroline, as he helped to
enliven the uniformity of a court with sprightly repartees,
and lively sallies of wit. His defects were, extreme affectation, bitterness of invective, prodigality of flattery, and
great servility to those above him. Of his poetical effusions, which are easy, elegant, and sufficiently satirical to” have made Pope feel, the best are in Dodsley’s collection.
The advice of George II. to him must not be forgotten,
although in our days it is less likely to be taken than at
that period “My lord Hervey, you ought not to write
verses ’tis beneath your rank leave such work to little
Mr. Pope it is his trade”

Lord Hervey married, Oct. 25, 1720, Mary, daughter of
brigadier-general Nicholas Lepell, an amiable woman, often
mentioned, and always with praise, in Pope’s and lord
Orford’s works; and had by her four sons and four daughters. Two of the sons are the subjects of the following
articles. 1

This text has been generated using commercial OCR software,
and there are still many problems; it is slowly getting better
over time.
The text was scanned and OCRd several times, and
a majority version of each line of text was chosen.
Please don't reuse the content
(e.g. do not post to wikipedia)
without asking liam
at holoweb dot net first (mention the colour of your socks in the mail),
because I am still working on fixing errors.
Thanks!